Tweets:
Another international infamy for Malaysia http://bit.ly/bREG7C Ex-airman back to jail after losing protection bid
07/19/2010 06:31 PM

Where othr civilized countries a person safer in prison than outside? http://bit.ly/c2PFs6 No protection order, so ex-airman chooses jail
07/19/2010 06:38 PM

———

Ex-airman back to jail after losing protection bid
By Boo Su-Lyn | The Malaysian Insider

PETALING JAYA, July 19 — Former air force sergeant N. Tharmendran is returning to prison today after losing his bid for a court protection order against Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) officers he claims intend to abduct him.

Tharmendran’s father N. Nagarajah withdrew his bail on his son’s behalf after the Sessions Court here rejected the ex-airman’s application for a protection order to prohibit RMAF officers from taking him into custody.

“The accused (Tharmendran) has no recourse but to withdraw his bail because he is certain that TUDM (RMAF) will abduct him anytime,” said Tharmendran’s lawyer M. Manogaran today.

The lawyer added that Tharmendran saw several RMAF officers from the air force’s intelligence unit in the courtroom during the hearing itself today.

“A person who has been tortured once does not want to be tortured again. That is why he (Tharmendran) has chosen to go back to Sungai Buloh (prison),” Tharmendran’s other lawyer N. Surendran told reporters today.

Tharmendran was recently released from prison after winning an appeal early this month at the High Court here to reduce his bail to RM50,000 from the original bail of RM150,000 posted by the Sessions Court on January 6.

The ex-airman claimed that the air force “major” who allegedly tortured him as well as nine other RMAF officers under the major’s command were also present at the court building during his hearing this morning.

The 42-year-old former air force sergeant had also alleged in a police report this morning that four RMAF officers had visited his parents’ house in Seremban last Friday to abduct him.

Tharmendran was charged in January this year for the theft of two RMAF F5-E jet engines.

However, Tharmendran recently denied stealing the fighter jet engines, claiming instead that he had been tortured by military officers to force a confession from him to say that he had been responsible for the theft.

Tharmendran alleged that he was dragged, stripped down to his underwear, and thrown into a freezing cold room and made to admit, repeatedly, that he was guilty.

He also said that he was made to wear a crash helmet and was hit with a cricket bat and a golf club three to four times a day.

Judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz rejected Tharmendran’s application for a protection order on grounds that the Sessions Court did not have the powers to grant the order.

“The court refers to Section 2 and 4 of the Abduction and Criminal Intimidation of Witnesses Act 1947 and finds that this act cannot be used for the accused. It is specifically for witnesses,” said Hayatul.

Manogaran and Surendran had argued earlier that the court was empowered to grant a protection order to Tharmendran as the protection granted under the Act mentioned was applicable to Tharmendran.

“If you look at Section 4, the statement is ‘whoever abducts any person’. Any person includes the accused who will give a statement in court,” said Manogaran.

Hayatul also said that Tharmendran’s police report claiming that RMAF officers were trying to abduct him was “just an allegation” and could not be used as a basis to grant a protection order.

“This is the worst failure found in the justice system in this country,” said Surendan.

“We can see that Malaysian witnesses are forced to go to prison to protect himself from the authorities,” added Surendran.

Manogaran also said that RMAF does not have the right to take Tharmendran into custody since the expiry of his service contract on May 28 this year, as well as the fact that his salary for the past two months was not paid.

“His (Tharmendran) contract cannot be extended or renewed without consent,” said Manogaran, adding that the RMAF had yet to respond to letters sent to them last week stating that Tharmendran was no longer in their service.

Tharmendran’s trial was postponed to September 6 after he made an application at the Shah Alam High Court to quash the charges against him at the Sessions Court on grounds that they were “frivolous”.

Manogaran and Surendran have maintained that their client is merely a scapegoat in a conspiracy involving high-ranking officers.

——-

No protection order, so ex-airman chooses jail
By Joseph Sipalan | Malaysiakini

In yet another dramatic twist in the trial of former RMAF sergeant N Tharmendran, the accused retracted his bail after the PJ Sessions Court refused his application for a protection order from the air force.

Judge Hayatul Akmal Abd Aziz ruled that the court has no jurisdiction to grant such an order, and it cannot admit a police report on alleged harassment by the RMAF as evidence, as it is still under investigation.

She added that the Abduction and Criminal Intimidation of Witnesses Act, cited by Tharmendran’s defence as grounds to grant the order, is not applicable in Tharmendran’s case as he is an accused and not a witness.

Tharmendran will now go back to the Sungai Buloh prison, just two weeks after securing a reduced bail of RM50,000 from the High Court.

Lead defence counsel N Surendran (left) said Tharmendran requested to retract his bail as he feared he would be picked up by RMAF officers who were waiting outside the courtroom.

“This goes to show that anyone who has been tortured before does not want to be tortured again,” Surendran said of his client’s alleged torture by army intelligence officers.

Surendran decried the court’s decision not to grant Tharmendran a protection order, accusing the judicial system of failing the cause of justice.

“Today is one of the darkest days in this country, when a Malaysian citizen is forced to go to prison to protect himself from the authorities themselves,” he said after the hearing this afternoon.

Earlier this morning, Tharmendran filed a police report claiming that four armed forces personnel had gone to his parents’ home in Seremban to pick him up.

He also claimed that at least 10 officers from the air force’s intelligence division, all in plainclothes, were waiting around at the courthouse this morning to take him away.

‘Limited’ documents turn up

At the afternoon hearing, deputy public prosecutor Ishak Muhamad Yusof was believed to have cited some documents handed over to him by marshalls attached to the military court.

The contents of the documents were unknown and could not be shown to the court as the marshalls claimed that it has limited access.

It was however at this time when Ishak refuted the defence’s claim that Tharmendran’s contract with the RMAF expired on May 28 this year, saying that after making an “inquiry” into his employment status, Tharmendran is still attached to the RMAF.

Surendran earlier argued that because Tharmendran’s contract had ended almost two months ago, he is now a civilian and the RMAF have no business harassing him.

Ishak suggested that the defence apply for an injunction in the High Court, as it is the proper procedure to apply for such an order and would give the air force enough time to respond to the allegations.

“This court has no jurisdiction to give such an order, and if it does so it would be pre-judged as the matter is still under investigation,” he said.

Trial date postponed

Earlier, Hayatul had adjourned Tharmendran’s trial regarding two jet fighter engines found missing in 2007, pending the outcome of two applications filed by his lawyers.

The first application, filed on July 15 in the Sessions Court, is for further documents from the prosecution in relation to the alleged theft of the engines.

The second application, filed on July 16 in the Shah Alam High Court, seeks to strike out Tharmendran’s case on the grounds that it is an abuse of the court process and frivolous.

The High Court has not set a date to hear this application.

Also present today was co-accused K Rajandran Prasad (left), who is represented by Gobind Singh Deo.

Tharmendran and Rajandran are jointly charged in connection with the theft of the jet engines in 2007.

The Sessions Court set Sept 6 for mention, to fix new dates for the trial.

Report as at 11.15am:

Drama and intrigue coloured the scheduled start of former RMAF sergeant N Tharmendran’s trial today, as his lawyers applied for a protection order to keep alleged “abductors” at bay.

Like a scene out of a Hollywood thriller, Tharmendran (right) pointed out two officers in plain clothes hanging around the Petaling Jaya courthouse after the trial was adjourned this morning.

This prompted his lead counsel N Surendran and Lateefa Koya to confront one of the officers.

“He admitted he was an officer, but denied that he is a witness or (that he is) involved in the case,” Surendran said.

“He said he and another officer were just accompanying another officer to the courthouse, but when we asked if the person was still around, he said they did not know.”

Tharmendran and his lawyers then went to the Petaling Jaya police station to lodge a report on an alleged attempt by air force personnel to abduct him from his parents’ home in Seremban last Friday.

The report will be the basis for his protection order, which will be heard by the Sessions Court at 2pm today.

Tharmendran had previously told Malaysiakini that he had been tortured by military intelligence officers while being interrogated during an internal probe.

Decisions pending

Earlier, PJ Sessions Court judge Hayatul Akmal had adjourned the trial, pending the outcome of two applications filed by his lawyers.

The first application, filed on July 15 in the Sessions Court, is for further documents from the prosecution in relation to the alleged theft of two jet-fighter engines.

The second application, filed on July 16 in the Shah Alam High Court, seeks to strike out Tharmendran’s case on the grounds that it is an abuse of the court process and frivolous.

The High Court has not set a date to hear this application.

Also present today was co-accused K Rajandran Prasad, who is represented by Gobind Singh Deo (left).

The prosecution team is led by DPP Ishak Muhamad Yusof.

Tharmendran and Rajandran are jointly charged in connection with the theft of the jet engines in 2007.

The Sessions Court set Sept 6 for mention, to fix new dates for the trial.